Binary code: Mystery number one - стр. 75

Ruthra followed him. When he finally lost his coordination in space, the doppelganger stopped in front of a wall and said into an invisible speaker, "It's okay." The wall slid apart a little, forming a passage. It was the door to a room.

– Come in," the doppelganger "asked.

Ruthra saw an ordinary office, with a long table with a chair and chairs in the middle, a single shelf of books along the wall, and several shelves of electronic modules, each with glowing lights. There were no windows. In the chair sat a man in his sixties, almost completely gray-haired, with a slightly elongated face, blue eyes, neither fat nor thin.

– Good afternoon," he said and smiled.

– Kind," Ruthra replied without emotion.

– Sit down, I hope you've calmed down. It's always like that at the beginning of the journey.

"So it's practiced here. What kind of place is this? In whose department?" – Ruthra pondered.

– Who are you?

The master of the office rose from his desk, approached Rutra, and held out his hand.

– Yuri Yarovitovich," he introduced himself; taking Rutra under his elbow, he motioned for him to sit down.

– Rutra Tigrovich," Rutra introduced himself in turn and sat down at the table.

– I understand you're a bit taken aback," the man said, looking intently at Rutra and then at his double.

The man nodded and walked out, the door closing automatically.

– I'll try to explain everything briefly, but don't interrupt and don't ask questions. You can write down your questions, here's a sheet of paper and a pen. What I will tell you will seem incredible, but I think that your psyche is already a little prepared after acquaintance with Center Zero, Metro-2 and Metro-3. And before that you have seen a lot of things, read special literature, including, as far as I know, radical literature.

Ruthra decided to be quiet and listen to what he would be told to make sense of the situation.

– Tell me, Ruthra, when you were on a mission, where did the orders come from?

– From my superiors," Ruthra replied grudgingly.

– Okay, which one?

– From the direct," Ruthra replied, his whole demeanor showing that he thought these questions were foolish.

– Don't jump to conclusions, listen," said Yarovitovich. – Orders, orders, instructions go from superiors to subordinates. Right?

– Okay.

– And where is the most important link, where the first order comes from, where instructions for instructions, rules for rules are written? Do you know about the existence of commands in envelopes in case of X hour?

– You mean the secret envelopes that are kept in strategic centers? Envelopes that contain orders in case a special event occurs where you have to perform an action according to an enclosed instruction?